With Help from PetSmart®, Dog Waste Lights Up a Park

With Help from PetSmart®, Dog Waste Lights Up a Park13:00 EDT Wednesday, April 18, 2012
PHOENIX (Business Wire) -- Commemorating Earth
Day on April 22, PetSmart®
(NASDAQ: PETM) announced an update on its progress in the area of
environmental sustainability. The Phoenix-based company's Think
Twice™ platform is the driver behind PetSmart's focus on
sustainability, impacting not only its corporate campus but its more
than 1,232 retail stores and distribution centers across the United
States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
“Through Think Twice, we continue to develop innovative and
sustainable solutions internally and within the community,” said Jaye
Perricone, Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Development for
PetSmart. “We're committed to sustainability not only because it's good
for business, but because it's the right thing to do.”
Saving Lives and Landfills
In 2011, PetSmart tested a “hardgoods donation program” with the help of
non-profit vendor Good360.
The program enables some discontinued hardgood items such as pet toys,
beds and other non-consumable products to be donated to PetSmart's
adoption partners instead of being discarded or destroyed. The program,
which will be rolled out to all PetSmart stores by the end of 2012, is
expected to keep up to 3,000 dumpsters of product from going to
landfills and instead, be used to support pets in the care of adoption
agencies. To-date, over 31,000 items have been donated to adoption
partners.
A Community's Unique Sustainability Solution
The Town
of Gilbert, neighboring PetSmart's hometown of Phoenix, announced
today that PetSmart “closed the gap,” providing the remaining funds
needed for an eco-friendly project at Cosmo
Dog Park. As a result, the “Dog Digester” will be installed in the
park in May 2012 and will transform dog waste into energy that will
provide light in the park. Gilbert's
Solid Waste department worked with students at nearby Arizona
State University to develop this innovative and cost-effective
energy-saving solution.
Fresh Ideas Mean Fresh Air
A “Fresh
Air Forum” encouraging “green-minded” associates was introduced in
2011. This forum enables associates to learn about sustainability inside
and outside of PetSmart and share ideas for sustainable living and
working.
Think Twice
Started in 2008, PetSmart's Think Twice platform identified six Sustainable
Priorities to address and reduce the environmental impact of the
retailer's corporate, store and distribution facilities: Energy and
Carbon; Waste; Recycling; Water; Green Products and Partnerships; and
Engagement.
To learn more about the company's sustainability efforts and its Think
Twice platform, view PetSmart's 2011 Sustainability Report at www.petsmart.com/thinktwice.
About PetSmart
PetSmart,
Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is the largest specialty pet retailer of
services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. The company
employs approximately 50,000 associates and operates more than 1,232 pet
stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, over 192 in-store PetSmart®
PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities and is a
leading online provider of pet supplies and pet care information (http://www.petsmart.com).
PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet
products; and offers dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart
Doggie Day Camp SM day care services and pet adoption
services. Since 1994, PetSmart
Charities, Inc., an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare
organization and the largest funder of animal welfare efforts in North
America, has provided more than $165 million in grants and programs
benefiting animal welfare organizations. Through its in-store pet
adoption partnership with PetSmart Charities®, PetSmart has
helped save the lives of nearly 5 million pets.
Follow PetSmart on Twitter @PetSmartFind
PetSmart on Facebook www.facebook.com/PetSmartSee
PetSmart on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart
PetSmart, Inc.Toni J. Eberhardt, 623-516-3912teberhardt@ssg.petsmart.com

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